The Perdido Institute
Privacy, police accountability, and evidence-based government for New Orleans.
Who we are
The Perdido Institute is a New Orleans nonprofit that works to protect residents from unlawful surveillance and to hold city government to its own laws. We use public records, technical analysis, and formal complaints to document how the city and its partners collect data about the people who live here. We publish what we find, with sources, so anyone can check our work.
What we do
Surveillance Accountability
We document the cameras, license plate readers, facial recognition systems, and drones operating in New Orleans, and we track whether their use complies with city law.
Police Accountability
When records show an officer violating the law or NOPD policy, we file a complaint and follow it through the Public Integrity Bureau, the Independent Police Monitor, and the Office of Inspector General. We help residents file their own.
Public Records Assistance
We file Louisiana Public Records Act requests, publish the responses, and help residents file and appeal their own.
City Agency Assistance
311 tickets, blight complaints, Sewerage and Water Board bills, permits. We help residents get a response and escalate when they do not.
Evidence-Based Government
We test the claims the city makes about public safety technology against the data, and we push for policy grounded in evidence.
We handle the bureaucracy
Need a record from a city agency? Want to file a complaint about an officer but do not know where it goes? Stuck on paperwork nobody at City Hall will explain? We help residents file public records requests, draft and file complaints, and get answers from city agencies, and we follow each one until someone responds.
RETINA: the New Orleans Surveillance Map
RETINA is our public map of surveillance cameras and automated license plate readers in New Orleans, built from public records and field documentation. Use it to see what is watching your block.
Why “Perdido”
Perdido is Spanish for lost. Privacy includes the right to be lost: to walk through your own city without being identified, logged, and tracked. Perdido Street is also the address of New Orleans City Hall, where most of our work is directed.
Get involved
The Perdido Institute is volunteer-run. If you want to help with records research, field documentation, or policy work, or if you have information about surveillance in New Orleans, write to [email protected].
